The present invention relates, generally, to a peep sight for archery use. More particularly, the invention is directed to a peep sight for use on a compound bow, and optionally, in conjunction with a bow sight mounted on the bow itself.
The precision and the accuracy in the use of archery equipment, including compound bows, has been markedly improved through the utilization of the combination of a string-mounted peep sight in conjunction with a bow-mounted bow sight. Bow-mounted bow sights of various forms and structural features are known in the prior art. However, none of these structures is, specifically, an element of the present invention and, accordingly, no detailed description of any particular preferred bow sight is contained herein. Rather, it is contemplated and intended that the peep sight of the present invention will find utility with all bow mounted bow sights, and will be useful even without bow sights.
The established practice in the drawing of a bow is to affix the arrow at what is known as the nocking point on the bow string and to draw the bow string back a predetermined distance and with one's sighting eye at a fixed height above the nocking point. The goal of the archer is to utilize the described procedure as a means for releasing the arrow with a trajectory so that the arrow hits the target. The cause of the obvious difficulty is in ensuring that the sighting or aiming eye is always at the same and at the desired height above the nocking point. The use of auxiliary sighting devices such as peep sights has become commonplace. Such peep sights are secured onto the bow string at an elevational point above the nocking point and corresponding to the predetermined height which the archer has established as being the desirable height at which the aiming eye is located at the moment the bow is fully drawn. A bore extending through the body of the peep sight is then brought into alignment with the particular desired reference element of the bow-mounted bow sight, thereby establishing a viewing direction which is, ideally, correlated with the desired trajectory of the arrow upon its release from the bow.
One of the problems which has plagued the user of peep sights is that, being secured to a multiple stranded bow string, the peep sight tends to shift annularly about the bow string as the bow string is drawn. Such undesirable rotation, if present even in a slight amount, renders it impossible to achieve an alignment of the bore or sighting port of the peep sight with the reference point of the bow-mounted bow sight. That is, it is most difficult to ensure that the sighting bore through the peep sight extends in a plane which parallels the axis of the arrow itself. Various procedures and physical modifications of the peep sight itself have been used in an effort to solve the problem described. For example, in some instances the diameter of the viewing bore in the peep sight has been enlarged so as to accommodate a misaligning twisting of the bow string. It will be appreciated that such an approach to dealing with the problem inherently has the result of reducing precision and accuracy, and does not constitute a meaningful solution to the problem posed. Another approach has been to restrict the rotary motion of the bow string by providing a tensioning line between the bow string and the bow itself. It will be appreciated that the latter arrangement is unsuited to compound bows because of the danger of the tensioning device breaking and injuring the archer's eye.
Accordingly, it is a principal aim of the invention to provide an improved bow sight including improved means for maintaining the desired spacial orientation of the peep sight on the draw string of a compound bow. It is a principal object of the invention so to restrict and safely control any rotational displacement of the draw string that when the bow string is drawn, the sighting bore extending through the peep sight will always be aimed directly at the bow-mounted bow sight, without any lateral deviation and without the need for impairment of accuracy and precision by enlarging the diameter of the bore.